Your blog’s name is probably the most important decision you’ll have to make in the first few weeks.
Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of people regret their bad blog names and hope to start over with a new one.
I’ve put together a list of seven suggestions to help you find the perfect name for yourself.
1. Stay away from copycatting other already successful blog names
If you try to register your new blog name as a domain, you will almost certainly run into the same problem as everyone else.
Something sounds ideal for you; it’s exactly what you’ve been looking for, but there’s one problem: the name has already been taken.
There are three approaches you can take from here:
- FIRST = Keep the domain name, but change the top-level domain (top-level domain are everything behind the last dot the most common are .com .org .net but also regional like .co.uk or .au)
If you are certain that your audience will not come from the United States but will come from a specific location, such as the United Kingdom, then choosing .co.uk is acceptable.
However, for the majority of you, choosing a different top-level domain will not help you because people will already recognize that site as .com and you will have a difficult time driving traffic to your site.
- SECOND = Keeping .com as your top-level domain but changing the name slightly.
Even though the domains
abysmith.com and aby-smith.com
are distinct and if the first is taken, you can simply add a character for separation and create a new domain that you will be able to register, the problem remains the same.
People already associate abysmith.com with the first Aby, making it nearly impossible for you to gain any significant traffic with such a domain.
This can lead to the fact that your excellent blog posts will increase traffic to her website and improve her search engine discoverability.
Simply ask yourself how many websites with characters as separation tools you visit on a regular basis. If your answer is “I can’t think of any,” you shouldn’t try to be the first.
- THIRD = I know it is hard but the best way is to move on and try to find something new.
There are many tools that will help you do that just check the next tip.
2. Use online tools that will help you in naming your blog
When everything you find is already taken and you can’t come up with something original from your own head, the process of naming your blog can be extremely difficult.
The good news is that there are plenty of free online tools available today to help you find the perfect name for your blog.
- Synonyms dictionary can be useful in this situation. Take something you like but it has already been taken and enter it into an online dictionary to find something that means the same but sounds completely different and new.
- Another good tool for finding good alternatives for a name that you want but is already taken is Google Translate, which allows you to try to find something that means the same but sounds even better in another language. Latin is one of the most underappreciated languages. You can find a lot of words that everyone uses but doesn’t realize they’re Latin words.
- You can also use specialized sites like namelix or other business name generators to find something completely new. The best part is that you can describe your blog’s topic and they will try to find you the best name possible.
Those tools are all free and will help you a lot of times. It’s great to discover perspectives you hadn’t considered before.
3. Avoid using names that are trademarked or copyrighted
This is a serious problem. I mostly see TV shows or sports enthusiasts doing this.
You can’t simply put the name of the show, sports team, celebrity, and many other things as part of your domain name.
To be clear, you can put cowboys in your domain name if your blog is entirely about real cowboys, but if you write about the football team Dallas Cowboys and use their trademark in your domain, it is only a matter of time before their lawyer contacts you.
Try to avoid famous trademarks; if you are unsure whether something is trademarked, go to the USPTO and find out for yourself.
4. Make sure it is actually readable
When we create something in our heads, we can easily read it, which often leads to poor decisions.
Remember that your blog’s domain name will always be displayed in all lowercase letters.
This makes it very difficult to properly read your domain if it contains a lot of words just look at this example>
marrycookingthebestfoodofyourlife.com
This appears to be very confusing, even though if the domain is written in uppercase letters, it will be much easier to read.
MarryCookingTheBestFoodOfYourLife.com
Unfortunately, the internet does not work this way, so try not to make your blog too long or contain too many words or letters.
I suggest that you aim for 4-17 letters and 1-4 words.
5. Stop overthinking it and start blogging instead
It’s strange to hear this after reading my suggestions for you, but you have to move on.
Actually, the most difficult problem, and where most bloggers will spend the most time, is deciding on the perfect blog name.
You shouldn’t think about it for more than 15 minutes because people will love your blog for its content, not its name.
Spending more than 15 minutes is simply wasting your time, and you will most likely end up picking something that you thought of in the first 15 minutes anyway.
And don’t worry, you can always change your domain name later and continue with a new domain name all you have to do is start and see how it works out for you.
5. Don’t spend a lot of money on your blog name
The good news is that if you want to start a blog, places like Bluehost will provide you with a free domain name, so you won’t have to spend money at first.
If you want to see a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a blog, click here.